Sunday 15 July 2012 11.00 EDT
First published on Sunday 15 July 2012 11.00 EDT

On the weekend that the triple jumper Phillips Idowu withdrew from his fourth consecutive competition of the season with an injury problem, the British medal hope's biggest rival for the Olympic title, the world champion Christian Taylor, said he will be aiming to break the world record at London 2012.

The 21-year-old American, who beat Idowu at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, last year, seemed unperturbed by the heavy rain at Crystal Palace, jumping 17.41 metres to win the competition. "This is great preparation for the Olympic Games. I've been jumping in rain every competition so I think I'm getting to used to working with the elements … I'm just fine-tuning to go for this world record," said Taylor, of Jonathan Edward's 18.29m leap set at the world championships in 1995. "That's what I'm going for. I wouldn't be out here if I didn't believe I had the strength and the talent to do it."

Coming from an athlete whose personal best at 17.96m is 15cm further than the Idowu's, this is the kind of talk that would worry most athletes. But despite not having competed since 2 June when he withdrew midway through a meet in Eugene, Oregon, after landing awkwardly in the sandpit, Idowu – fast becoming known as "Mr Invisible" for his absence on the competition circuit – is renowned as a championship performer. Even so, the task that lies ahead of him now – preparing for the biggest competition of his life without having competed in more than two months – looks daunting.

Taylor would not rule the 2008 Olympic silver medallist out of contention, however. "This guy has been jumping for a long time, he's experienced, he's been here before. I have great respect for him, as I have for all the other competitors, so I don't count him out at all. Unfortunately here would have been a nice little preview to see where he is, but maybe he's keeping that a secret and I just keep my mind, stay positive, and get ready for the Games."

Idowu withdrew from Crystal Palace as a precautionary measure, complaining of a tightness in the oblique muscle leading into his left hip. Asked if he had been aware of Idowu's injury, Taylor said: "I don't know, I saw him bounding back there and I thought he was fine and I was looking forward to it. I came here to compete, I always look to compete with the best to raise my level, so it was unfortunate that I saw him pull out but I wish the best for him."

Meanwhile, the double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes has backed the 1500m world silver medallist Hannah England to bounce back to form following an achilles injury that threatened to ruin the 25-year-old's Olympic Games. "What I am telling her at the moment is that she still has time, that it is not over till it's over," said Holmes, who has mentored England as part of her On Camp With Kelly scheme.

"I can relate to Hannah. In 1996 [the Atlanta Games] I found out I had a stress fracture in Tallahassee two weeks before, still ran it, came fourth. But on that occasion I was fit, had done the training and believed I could do it. But the one that is the most comparable is Sydney [in 2000] when I tore my calf in January and had only six weeks track work that year – and I came back with a bronze medal and might have had gold if I hadn't looked up at the screen and thought: 'Oh my God, I'm in front'."

Those words will be of great comfort to England, who finished last at Crystal Palace on Friday evening in her first competitive race since injuring an achilles in Hengelo in May. "Racing's what she needs," said Kelly. "It's not a worry that she only ran 4min 14sec because it was the way the race was run, the pace at 800m. I don't think she should be disappointed. She may have felt there was nothing left in the last 300m but that is because she hasn't done the speed endurance stuff recently . That will come back because she showed she had it before for that race [in Hengelo]. She has maintained her cardiovascular work in the gym and now she can concentrate on some speed endurance work that will enable her to be OK on that last piece [the final 300m]."

There was no further news on the injury problem that made the 100m hurdler Tiffany Porter flee the track in tears on Saturday. The Olympic medal contender's back problem has been described as a "niggle" by the head coach, Charles van Commenee, but Porter's friend and former team-mate Danielle Carruthers revealed that the injury is playing on the Briton's mind. Meanwhile, the star of the weekend, Perri Shakes-Drayton, whose new personal best of 53.77sec in the 400m hurdles now ranks her as joint second in the world, tweeted: "Overly pleased with my performance." The 23-year-old Londoner has shot herself into medal contention just at the right time for the Games.